Page 46 - OCt-JOA-2020

By Terry Kovel and Kim Kovel

t seems strange today that early wooden tea caddies (special boxes for tea)
Collecting Tip:
were made with a lock and key. Tea was a very expensive drink in the
I1600s. It gave added energy and after the addition of sugar, milk and Fasten hooks and eyes before washing vintage clothes. Terry Kovel
sometimes lemon, it had a pleasing taste. The earliest tea caddies in England
were made of porcelain shaped like a bottle with flat sides and a lid. Most were Q. I was just told that there was a bag kept in the privy building used in past
made in Holland. By the 1700s, there were large tea chests (caddies) that were centuries. It was quilted from old pieces of cloth and used to save scraps (some say
made of mahogany, rosewood and other cloth, some paper) to use like we use toilet paper. Is this true?
attractive types of wood. The valuable tea A. We thought that was a strange question, but we searched our library and
was kept in a box decorated with ivory, finally went online to Kovels.com. We wrote about an exhibit in 2009 in
brass, ebony or silver to show its impor- Lancaster, Pennsylvania, of quilted privy bags. They also had a booklet showing
tance. Most had two or three sections that the collection. The bags were used in the privy to hold the pieces of paper that
held a glass liner for the tea. The tea was were to be used like toilet paper. Waste went into the hole in the seat to the
served in an important room, so the tea ground about 6 feet below. Lancaster, Pennsylvania, seems to have been the
caddy was made to resemble the furniture center of this tradition with Amish-made quilted bags. As you probably have
of the day. heard, the joke was last year’s Sears and Roebuck catalog was saved for the
A recent Cottone auction sold an outhouse. The only price we have seen for this rare item was $995.
English Tunbridge ware tea caddy with
inlay picturing Queen Victoria. The caddy ***
was connected to a pedestal, also decorated Q. Is there any way to test to see if an item is made of resin, bone or plastic?
with inlay. The impressive tea caddy sold
for $2,950. A. Bone and resin are natural products. Bone has small black or brown pock
marks called “marrow flecks.” It’s heavier than resin or plastic. Resin is an
Tea, an expensive luxury in the 18th century, organic material made from plants and trees. It may have some tiny bubbles in
was kept in a locked box. This tea caddy on a it. Plastic is a synthetic material and is harder than resin. Although a resin
pedestal is 33 inches high by 16 inches wide. figurine is heavier than the same figurine in plastic, it is not as durable and is
It auctioned for almost $3,000. more likely to chip or crack if dropped.

***
veryone knows what a bench is, but what is a window bench? Many Q. I’d like to know if an old “Roosevelt” pinback button is worth anything. It’s a
homes in earlier centuries had windows set in alcoves in a large round button, about 3/4 inch in diameter. The top third is blue with three white
Eopen room like a hall or living room. The bench was narrow stars. Below that is a white band with “Roosevelt” in blue capital letters. The bottom
enough, and a seat low enough to avoid blocking the window. The typical third is white with five vertical red stripes.
French bench had curved or turned legs, a shaped stretcher, and the arms A. Two Roosevelts served as presidents of the United States: Theodore
were more like raised handles on the sides. It is a low, wide chair without Roosevelt, from 1901 to 1909, and his fifth cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
a back. Most window benches were upholstered for comfort and to improve from 1933 until his death in 1945. Your political button was made by Bastian
the look of the window. A Provincial Louis XVI fruitwood window seat was Bros. Co. for one of FDR’s campaigns, probably in 1932 or 1936. Franklin
sold at a New Orleans auction for $1,625. It was 29 inches high by 43 inches Roosevelt was the only president to serve more than two terms in office. He
wide. There are few rooms won reelection to an unprecedented third term in 1940 and a fourth term in
with window alcoves, but 1944, but he died in April 1945. Some rare political pins sell for high prices,
window benches are just the sometimes over $100. Yours is a common pin, worth less than $2.
right size to stay at the end of
a bed. ***
Q. The metal drawer pulls on my antique dresser are marked “RD 769778,
This French window bench was Made in England.” I can’t find anything about this online. What can you tell
in style the last half of the 18th me about it?
century. Although it was made to
use by a window, it is popular A. This number is an English design registry number and indicates the design
with decorators today as a hall for the hardware was registered in 1905. This helps date your dresser since it
bench or a seat at the end of a could not have been made before 1905. Look on the bottom or the back of the
bed. This bench sold for about dresser for a maker’s name or mark. It may give a better idea of age. The handles
$1,600 at an auction are copies of a 19th-century style.

Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States.
Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.
CURRENT PRICES
Glass-blown, epergne, clear, etched Greek key pattern, Toy, Howdy Doody Delivery wagon, tricycle with Superman, Dime Register Bank, graphic pictures
eight-point stars on column, baluster, shallow dish, wagon on back, Clarabell drives, celluloid head & Superman breaking chains, tin, square with cut corners,
domed foot, Corning, NY, 1800s, 14 1/2 inches, $250. legs, tin lithograph, friction, Linemar, box, 5 1/2 x $120.
5 inches, $780.
Fenton carnival glass water pitcher, Fluffy Peacock Toy, Flintstones train, Bedrock Express, Fred & Wilma
pattern, ruffled rim, applied green glass handle, c. 1910, Pewter candlesticks, fluted stem with swags, square base in locomotive, stone graphics, tin lithograph, zigzag
9 3/4 inches, $200. with cut corners, touch mark on base, Continental, action, metal bell, Marx, box, 12 inches, $415.
c. 1800, 89 inches, pair $30.
Advertising thermometer, We Recommend Ex-Lax for Rug, hooked, album quilt, 6 square panels, multicolored
Constipation, The Chocolated Laxative, tin, blue Bookends, Old Salt, fisherman, yellow slicker, rain hat, flowers, fruits, birds, black scalloped border, red scroll
ground, 39 x 8 inches, $360. cast iron, painted, 7 inches, pair $95. inner border, 19th century, 107 x 72 inches, $690.
Terry Kovel and Kim Kovel answer questions sent to the column. By sending a letter with a question and a picture, you give full permission for use in the column or any other Kovel forum. Names,
addresses or email addresses will not be published. We cannot guarantee the return of photographs, but if a stamped envelope is included, we will try. The amount of mail makes personal answers or
appraisals impossible. Write to Kovels, (Journal of Antiques & Collectibles), Kovels.com P.O. Box 23192, Beachwood, Ohio 44122.
44 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles